Indiana Historical Bureau

"I ordered Major Bowman to mount his company and part of another, and a few inhabitants . . . and proceed without delay . . . . I told [the men] . . . as it was the first time they ever bore arms as free men, it might be well to equip themselves and try how they felt as such . . . . it was late in the morning of the 6th [July] before they reached Kohokia. . . . The inhabitants were at first much alarmed . . . . The major informed them . . . that they were at liberty to become free Americans, as their friends at Kaskaskia had . . . .

". . . In a few hours the whole was amicable, and Major Bowman snugly quartered in the old British fort. . . . The whole of the inhabitants took the oath of allegiance cheerfuly. . . . in a few days the country appeared to be in a most perfect state of harmony."